It is well known that as a result of Coulombic repulsion, cation-cation or anion-anion interactions are not favored, but opposites do attract! In this issue ofChem, however, Nguyen et al. do exactly the opposite by bringing polycationic rings very close together. They achieve this by using the mechanical bond that Sir Fraser Stoddart discovered and pioneered over recent decades. More accurately, they are able to interlock three- and five-membered rings together by using this special and interlocked bond. In the former, the 12+ charged [3]catenane occupies a space of just 1.65 nm3, whereas the latter 24+ charged [5]catenane is approximately 3.7 × 2.7 × 0.8 nm in size. These new highly energetic molecules, made possible only through the use of the mechanical bond, could offer new directions in high-energy materials of the future. In their Legacy piece, Majed Chergui from the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne and Dongping Zhong from Ohio State University summarize the main scientific achievements of Prof. Ahmend Zewail, who earned the 1999 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

中文翻译：

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在这个问题上

众所周知，由于库仑排斥的缘故，阳离子-阳离子或阴离子-阴离子之间的相互作用不受欢迎，但相反的确会吸引！然而，在本期《化学》中，Nguyen等人。通过使聚阳离子环非常紧密地相反来进行相反的操作。他们通过使用弗雷泽·斯托达特爵士（Sir Fraser Stoddart）几十年来发现和开创的机械结合来实现这一目标。更准确地说，通过使用这种特殊的互锁键，它们能够将三元和五元环互锁在一起。在前者中，带12+电荷的[3] catenane仅占1.65 nm3的空间，而后者，带24+电荷的[5] catenane的尺寸约为3.7×2.7×0.8 nm。这些新的高能分子只有通过使用机械键才可能实现，它们可以为未来的高能材料提供新的方向。